Six Titles Available Now, Including The Man From Nowhere with
Additional Monthly Titles Rolling Out August 6 with Triple Tap
DramaFever (www.dramafever.com), the premier online video destination for international TV series and movies, has today announced its content partnership with film distributor Well Go USA Entertainment. This marks DramaFever’s first comprehensive deal to bring feature films to its audience, and an expansion into independent, action and genre films.
As part of this partnership, Well Go will license new titles to DramaFever each month, including their most popular titles from countries around the world.
“DramaFever’s subscribers are part of a loyal and growing audience that can’t get enough premium content – averaging around 50 hours of viewing per month,” said Jason Pfardrescher, Well Go USA’s SVP Digital, Theatrical Distribution & Marketing. “Tapping into these viewers, and the young demographic that DramaFever attracts, is an important part of our distribution strategy, and we look forward to growing this relationship in the months to come.”
“We are committed to being the leading destination for the best international content, period – from TV dramas to action films – and our expansion into new genres is only beginning,” said DramaFever co-founder and co-CEO Suk Park. “We are starting the summer with a bang, making the most exciting films from around the world available to our viewers, and Well Go is the ideal first film partner for us as we officially enter this category.”
Well Go USA’s currently-available films on Dramafever.com feature some of the best talent from around the globe – both in front and behind the camera, including Donnie Yen, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Chow Yun-Fat, Andy Lau, Jay Chou, and Takashi Shimizu.
Titles now available include:
- A Better Tomorrow – In the treacherous world of the black-market weapons trade, honor and vengeance go hand in hand. Adapted from writer/director John Woo’s original screenplay, this is a new take on the Hong Kong action classic that launched Chow Yun Fat to international stardom. Director Song Hae-seong’s remake features an all-star cast including Seung-heon Song, Kang-woo Kim, and Jin-mo Ju.
- Kung Fu Dunk – Shi-Jie (Jay Chou) grows up in a martial arts school and is well versed in kung-fu. With his skills and good reflexes, he also excels in basketball, especially the slam dunk. On the pretext of helping Shi-Jie find his family, Wang-Li (Eric Tsang) invites him to join the university’s basketball team in order to make money off of him. As part of the team, Shi-Jie faces new challenges, especially with Ting-Wei (Wilson Chen) and Xiao-Lan (Baron Chen). With the upcoming championship games and the appearance of Li-Li (Charlene Choi), the team must put aside their differences and personal emotions to face their common rivals.
- Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen – Presumed dead after single-handedly defeating all the Japanese fighters at the Hongkou Dojo to avenge his master, Chen Zhen (Donnie Yen) joins the Labour Corps during the First World War. Deciding to return home to defend his country, he arrives in Shanghai disguised as a wealthy businessman named Qi. He quickly befriends the notorious mafia boss Mr. Liu (Anthony Wong), owner of the nightclub Casablanca, and Kiki (Shu Qi), the club’s star hostess. With the rapid expansion of Japanese influence in China, the military releases a death list, sending Shanghai into complete panic. As assassinations become rampant in the city, Chen disguises himself as the Masked Warrior to protect those who have been targeted.
- Little Big Soldier – Set during China’s war period, Little Big Soldier is the story of a soldier and general who come from opposing states and have opposing views on the war and the world. In one of Jackie Chan’s finest performances, he plays a soldier from Liang, who ultimately survives the war by playing dead. Lee Hom Wang plays a general from Wei, who is wounded fighting for his country. A painful yet comical journey commences when the soldier decides to kidnap the general and bring him back to his state in the high hopes of collecting a reward. When the unlikely duo is confronted by danger, they quickly learn that they must join forces in order to survive!
- The Man From Nowhere – An ex-special agent, CHA Tae-shik’s (Won Bin) only connection to the world is a little girl, So-mi (Kim Sae-Ron), who lives next door. Her mother, Hyo-jeong, smuggles drugs from a drug trafficking organization and entrusts Tae-shik with the product, without letting him know. The traffickers eventually find out about her smuggling and kidnap both Hyo-jeong and So-mi, drawing Tae-shik into a frantic search for So-mi’s whereabouts while his hidden past slowly becomes revealed.
- Shaolin – In a young Republic of China, where greedy warlords fuel a period of war and strife, Hou Jie (Andy Lau) arrogantly shows no mercy to his enemies seeking refuge with the benign and compassionate Shaolin monks. After unscrupulously killing a wounded enemy, Hou Jie pays a terrible price for his actions and is forced to seek refuge in the same Shaolin Monastery he blatantly disrespected. Hou Jie’s traitorous second-in-command Cao Man (Nicholas Tse) continues where the once-warlord left off, betraying his country and his own people. Hou Jie must adapt to Shaolin principles to stop the monster he created.
Premiering on DramaFever later this year will be:
Triple Tap (August 6) – Champion competitive marksman Ken Kwan (Louis Koo) comes across an armored van robbery and sees a policeman being held hostage. While he shoots and kills four of the robbers, one escapes. Officer Jerry Chong (Daniel Wu), a fellow competitive shooting enthusiast whom Ken has recently defeated in a match, is on the case, and despite his actions being controversial in heavily gun-controlled Hong Kong, Ken is found not guilty and he is released a hero. When the one criminal who survived, Pang Tao, confronts Ken, a very different background story begins…
- 1911 (September 10) – At the beginning of the 20th century, China is in a state of crisis. The country is split into warring factions, the citizens are starving, and recent political reforms have made matters worse, not better. The ruling Qing Dynasty, led by a seven-year-old emperor, is completely out of touch after 250 years of unquestioned power, and ordinary citizens are beginning to revolt openly. The Qing Dynasty has created a powerful, modern army (the “New Army”) to quash any rebellion, but weapons are expensive, and desperate for cash, the Qing leaders are trading anything they can get their hands on with foreign countries… selling China’s future in the process. Huang Xin (Jackie Chan) has recently returned from Japan, where he has studied the art of modern warfare. When he finds his country falling apart, he feels he has no choice but to pick up the sword, leading an increasingly desperate series of violent rebellions against the powerful Qing Dynasty and the New Army- several with tragic consequences. From the walls of the Forbidden City to the battlefields of China, with no expense spared in production and no detail ignored in its quest for historical accuracy, 1911 is a true epic in every sense of the word.
- Yakuza Weapon (October 10) – The team behind Versus returns with another hard-edged battle royale featuring tough gangsters, deadly women and cybernetic implants. Ex-yakuza Shozo Iwaki (Tak Sakaguchi) engages in a titanic battle of revenge against double-crossing Kurawaki, the man who killed his father. After a building-leveling skirmish, Shozo wakes up with an M61 Vulcan cannon in place of his right arm, and a rocket launcher where his left leg used to be. Shozo quickly learns to love his weaponized frame, and prepares for a bloody rematch with Kurawaki, who has some mechanical improvements of his own. Co-directed by Yudai Yamaguchi and Tak Sakaguchi, creators of action-filled comedies like Battlefield Baseball, Cromartie High School and Be A Man! Samurai School, and based on an adult comic by Ken Ishikawa, (Cutie Honey, Getterrobot and more), Yakuza Weapon combines hard-boiled gangster action, manga-style comedy and splatterific special effects.
- Ocean Heaven (October 14) – One person out of every thousand is born with autism, with more than one million autism patients in China alone. David is one of them: he looks absent-minded, repeats other people’s words, swims with amazing ease, keeps everything at home in exact order… and is possibly not fully aware of his mother’s death some years ago. Working in an aquarium, Sam Wong takes tender care of this twenty-two-year-old son of his, and the two are happy, with the generous help of the neighbors. This film follows a father aware of his own mortality, determined to find shelter for his son before he dies, and a son who achieves a measure of independence necessary for both to let go.
- War of the Arrows (October 21) – During the second Manchurian invasion of Korea, 500,000 civilians were taken as prisoners of war. In the midst of the fierce battle, there was a legendary archer whose name was never recorded in the books.
- Blade of Kings (December 11) – An ancient land ruled by a cruel empress (Qu Ying), is a place where men are subservient to women. Despite her ruthlessness, the empress and her chief eunuch, Chiu Ngai (Daniel Wu), live in fear of a prophecy that says a boy shall rise to become emperor, so she sends out her warriors to kill any child who fulfils the terms of the prediction. Meanwhile, Charcoal Head (Jaycee Chan) and his brother Blockhead (Chen Po-lin) perform in a traveling show run by their foster father, Blackwood (Tony Leung Ka-fai). Their friend Tao (Edison Chen) gives them a stone with a treasure map engraved upon it. The pair set out on an epic journey to find fortune and glory. They are joined on their odyssey by two fierce warrior women, Blue Bird (Gillian Chung) and 13th Young Master (Charlene Choi), and, together have to survive a series of challenges. The youngsters meet Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Donnie Yen), a master swordsman intent on overthrowing the empire. To do so, Lone must first fight the Lord Of Armor (Jackie Chan) in order to gain access to the mysterious treasure. Finally, the boy who would be emperor must lead an army against the forces of the empress…
In 2014 to date, DramaFever’s owned and operated properties and syndication channels have averaged 21 million unique views per month. DramaFever’s viewers are overwhelmingly between the ages of 18-24 and diversify across all ethnic backgrounds.
About Well Go USA Entertainment
Well Go USA Entertainment (www.wellgousa.com) is a theatrical and home entertainment distribution label that specializes in bringing top content, including the best in Action, Genre, and Independent films from the U.S. and around the world, to North America, Latin America, Asia, and Europe. As a leader in independent film distribution, Well Go’s titles can be seen across a variety of platforms, including theatrical, digital, subscription and cable VOD, packaged media and broadcast television. Well Go currently releases five to eight films per month. Well Go USA Entertainment’s corporate headquarters is in Plano, Texas, with offices in Taiwan and China.
About DramaFever
DramaFever is an online video service that curates premium television shows and movies from 70 major broadcasters and studios throughout Asia, Europe and the Americas. Millions of monthly viewers discover and enjoy hit shows from the rest of the world on demand with professional subtitles in HD quality on DramaFever’s website as well as its applications on iPhone, iPad, Android, Roku, and Google TV.
Most of DramaFever’s library of 700 titles and 14,000 episodes are made available to viewers on first-run, next day basis from original broadcast. DramaFever also syndicates a portion of its library to Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, and iTunes. Founded in 2009 by Seung Bak and Suk Park, DramaFever’s mission is to enable consumers to see the world through pop culture and curated entertainment. The company has raised $12 million to date from its investors including AMC Networks, Bertelsmann, MK Capital, SoftBank Ventures, NALA Investments, and YouTube co-founder Steve Chen among many others. For more information, visit www.dramafever.com.
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